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Tacoma home erupts in flames with 93-year-old woman inside

By Amy Clancy
By Amy Clancy

Minne McClarron was suddenly awakened early Tuesday morning by a loud explosion and flames burning just feet from her Tacoma home.

“By the time I got to my granddaughter’s bedroom, the whole house was glowing,” McClarron told KIRO 7 Wednesday.

The 93-year old McClarron, who has owned her home on the corner of South 52nd and Fawcett Avenue since 1969, said the fire that scorched her front yard was not the first time homes near Stewart Middle School have apparently been targeted by a firebug.

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Neighbor Carlos Velasquez said someone also set a dumpster on fire last week, one block away.

“We heard some explosion around 2 a.m. over there and the next day I saw the garbage can blown,” he said.

No one has been injured, but now the entire neighborhood is on edge.

Immediately after the fire outside McClarron’s home, Tyler Michalek said neighbors rushed to help.

“Half the neighborhood was out here trying to put it out and trying to knock on the door to get the people out of the house.”

McClarron’s son, Willie, would like to see more police officers cruising the area around his mother’s home – until a suspect, or suspects, are identified.

The fire “’came within feet of being tragic, both my mother and my niece were staying here,” he said.

“This is not going unnoticed, and neither are we going to be quiet about it.”

Tacoma Police Department spokesperson Loretta Cool told KIRO 7 that

investigators are not aware of any serial arsonist in the area.

Tacoma Fire Department spokesperson Joe Meinecke said the fire outside McClarron’s home is being investigated, but that the department has not been notified of any other recent explosions or fires in the area.

Cox Media Group

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